U.S., Iran proceed trading strikes as peace talks drag on for weeks – National

Kuwait briefly shut the country’s predominant airport Wednesday after Iranian drones heavily damaged a terminal constructing, killing one person and wounding dozens — the newest salvo in a series of back-and-forth attacks by Iran and the US which have tested a fragile ceasefire.

The strikes got here as semiofficial Iranian news agencies said the country had stopped communicating with mediators about extending a ceasefire within the war with the U.S. and Israel. A regional official said Tehran wanted the truce in Lebanon enforced before returning to talks. U.S. President Donald Trump said negotiations were continuing.

The talks have dragged on for weeks, and repeated exchanges of strikes within the Gulf region and Israel’s broadening war in Lebanon are further straining the efforts.

All of the while, Iran has maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz — a vital artery for the world’s oil and natural gas — and the U.S. has continued its blockade of Iranian ports, ensuring that global fuel prices remain high and the consequences of the conflict are felt well beyond the region.

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Iranian drones hit Kuwait’s airport

Defense Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi said that “a lot of hostile drones” targeted a passenger constructing at Kuwait International Airport.

Authorities said one person was killed and 63 wounded, including passengers and staff. Health Ministry spokesman Abdullah Al Sanad said some had suffered serious injuries.

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The Foreign Ministry said Kuwait reserves the proper to answer Iran and that it’s going to “neither accept nor tolerate” the attacks.

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The airport partially reopened later within the day, in keeping with civil aviation authorities, with Kuwait Airways flights resuming from a distinct terminal than the one which was hit. No other flights could be operating, they said. The airport only reopened Monday after closing early within the war.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said Iran fired two missiles at Kuwait that fell apart en route, and that it “downed multiple drones” targeting American forces within the country.

The military also said U.S. and Bahraini forces intercepted missiles aimed toward the Gulf kingdom, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s fifth fleet. Bahrain’s Defense Ministry said its military intercepted and destroyed three missiles and a lot of drones fired by Iran.

The U.S. military said it launched strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island within the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard acknowledged that it targeted the headquarters of the fifth Fleet and U.S. military facilities out of the country, but didn’t name Kuwait.

Each the U.S. and Iran said they were retaliating for earlier attacks or attaempted attacks.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the U.S. strikes on Qeshm Island, where it said a telecommunications tower was struck, and other previous strikes. It called them “acts of aggression” that it said violated the ceasefire.

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A senior Emirati diplomat called on Wednesday for “a firm, unified, and cohesive Gulf position” against Iran following the attacks.

“This aggression doesn’t goal a selected state, but reasonably all of us,” Anwar Gargash wrote on the X platform.


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Iranian agencies report pause in talks


Iran’s Fars and Tasnim news agencies, each believed to be near the Guard, reported that Iran’s negotiators have stopped communicating with ceasefire mediators as tensions flared in Israel’s separate but related fight against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.

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A regional official involved within the mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity to debate the talks, told The Associated Press that Iran had not communicated in any respect on Tuesday after saying that a ceasefire needed to be enforced in Lebanon for negotiations to proceed.

Trump called reports of a cessation in talks “false and erroneous.”

“The conversations between us have been happening repeatedly, including 4 days ago, three days ago, two days ago, sooner or later ago and today,” Trump said in a social media post. “Where they lead, one never knows, but as I told Iran, ’It’s time, a method or one other, so that you can make a Deal.”


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Israel’s war in Lebanon

Despite repeated outbreaks of violence, the declared ceasefire in Lebanon is officially in place. No side has formally withdrawn or declared the ceasefire over, but attacks proceed. Israeli forces have moved deeper into Lebanon than at any time in over 1 / 4 of a century while Hezbollah has launched rocket and drone attacks.

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Because the attacks proceed, Lebanon has emerged as a key sticking point in Trump’s efforts to sign a ceasefire cope with Iran.

Tehran insists that any larger potential truce within the war there must also quell the fighting in Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to maintain the problems separate and is under heavy domestic pressure to strike Hezbollah as he prepares for brand new elections this fall.

The fighting has exposed a rift between close allies Israel and the U.S., with the U.S. pushing for restraint and Israel looking for to step up the military pressure on Hezbollah.

An individual conversant in the situation said Netanyahu and Trump had a “tense” conversation earlier this week. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk to the media. The person didn’t elaborate on the main points of the decision.

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